CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 2, 2018) – When the Rutgers University-Camden and College of New Jersey men's soccer teams met for their scheduled game last Wednesday night, a lightning storm forced the premature cancellation of a scoreless contest that was only 1:26 into the second half.
The Scarlet Raptors didn't wait around to score goals in the makeup game here Tuesday night.
Rutgers-Camden tallied three first-half goals – receiving two strikes from senior back
Brian Palangi and a pair of assists from junior midfielder
Chris Taraska – as they defeated TCNJ, 3-1, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
Rutgers-Camden improves to 8-3-1 overall and 3-1 in the NJAC with its fifth straight win. TCNJ, which has lost its last four games, falls to 7-4 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
The Raptors broke into the scoring column only 10:45 into the game on a perfect feed from Taraska,
pictured above. Taraska, who played a stellar game in the midfield, sent a cross from the right side, near the end lien, into the box, where it was finished by sophomore forward
Skyler Diggs. It was the team-leading sixth goal of the season for Diggs.
Only 2:09 later, Taraska picked up his second assist of the game, dropping a corner kick in front of the net, where it was headed into the goal by Palangi. It was Palangi's second goal of the season and ended up being his first game winner.
Palangi struck again in the 36th minute, providing the finishing touch from a scrum in from of the net.
Rutgers-Camden dominated the first half with an 11-4 advantage in shots on the way to a final 17-11 lead in the game. The Raptors also held a 6-4 overall edge in corner kicks.
TCNJ broke the Raptors' shutout bid at 75:26 when Joerg Jauk headed in a restart from Nick Sample. The goal snapped a shutout streak of 385:41 minutes by Raptor senior goalie
James Brett.
Brett finished with five saves. TCNJ split goalie duties, with Daniel Mecadon making five saves and allowing three goals in the opening half. Michael Kayal had four saves in a scoreless second half. The Lions also finished with one backsave.
Rutgers-Camden plays a 4 p.m. non-conference game Thursday at Penn State-Abington. The Raptors host Rutgers-Newark Saturday at 1 p.m. in another NJAC game.
